Alabama Football Tops Associated Press Preseason Top 25
8/21/2016 11:28:00 AM | Football
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Associated Press released its annual preseason poll for college football on Sunday and named Alabama its top-ranked team. The ranking marks the seventh consecutive year the Crimson Tide is amongst the top-3 teams in the nation by AP heading into the new season, the longest stretch in school history.
This marks the fifth time Alabama has topped AP's preseason poll. Alabama also began the season No. 1 in the writers' rankings in 1966, 1978, 2010 and 2013. The No. 1 ranking is also the 44th time the Crimson Tide have topped the AP poll since 2008.
Alabama returns 14 starters from last season's team that finished 14-1 and won the school's 16th national championship. The Tide has claimed four of the last seven national championships and owns a 98-12 record across the last eight seasons under head coach Nick Saban.
Clemson claimed the No. 2 spot in the poll, while Oklahoma enters the 2016 season as the No. 3 overall team. Florida State and LSU round out the top five. The SEC placed six teams in the top 25 with four of those squads ranking in the top-15.
The Crimson Tide will face four teams ranked in the preseason top-25 poll, including LSU (5), Tennessee (9), Ole Miss (11) and USC (20).
Alabama opens its 2016 season on Sept. 3 in Arlington, Texas, as the Tide squares off with the 20th-ranked Trojans in the annual AdvoCare Classic at AT&T Stadium. The matchup is scheduled for a 7 p.m. CT start on ABC with Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Sam Ponder on the call.
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaFTBL on Twitter and Facebook and AlabamaFBL on Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.
